Seeing Is Believing
by FiyasGideon
Summary: Stiles had always had a connection with the dead. When he was younger he could see and talk to ghosts as if they were human. But then he couldn't see or hear them anymore. Now, as if all the drama about werewolves wasn't enough, his gifts are starting to come back. How will this affect Stiles and can he use his returning gifts to help out his friends? Only time will tell.
1. Great Losses

**AN: This is a new story that I am working on, the updates may be slow but I will try to keep up with them. I am officially stuck on my other two stories so hopefully working on this one will help me. **

**Title: Seeing Is Believing**

**Rating: T(for now)**

**Pairings: None for now but might turn into Stiles/Derek later**

**Spoilers: Nothing past the first season for now**

**Summary: Stiles had always had a connection with the dead. When he was younger he could see and talk to ghosts as if they were human. But then he couldn't see or hear them anymore. Now, as if all the drama about werewolves wasn't enough, his gift are starting to come back. How will this affect Stiles and can he use his returning gifts to help out his friends? Only time will tell. **

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Stiles had always had a close connection with the dead. Sometimes it was just whispered words or phrases, other times there was just a vague feeling. On rare occasions, Stiles could just make out a human-like silhouette.

It wasn't always like that though. Once upon a time Stiles would have conversations with those people. They would appear, like any normal everyday person. Stiles would smile and talk with them, as if they were friends and they would answer back, just as excited to talk to Stiles, or anyone really. Sometimes Stiles would hold a party with drinks (it was not a tea party, because those were for girls) and would invite them over.

At first his parents didn't know what to think about Stiles' little gift, thinking that Stiles' friends were just some imaginary friends that he had made up because he had no real friends at the time. That all changed though when Stiles was five and had mentioned one of his friends to his parents. Mrs. Ackerson from down the street had told Stiles today that she missed her son, who had moved to Ohio three years ago to live with her ex-husband.

John, who was just a deputy at the time, recognized the name and when he went to work the next day he confirmed his fears. Mrs. Ackerson had died of a drug overdose almost three years ago after her ex-husband had divorced her and moved to Ohio to live with the woman he had been cheating on her with. Unfortunately Mrs. Ackerson was a stay at home mother and therefore had no source of income, which meant that Mr. Ackerson had won the custody battle and had taken their two year old son with him.

That night John and Claudia had sat Stiles down in the living room and asked him how he knew so much about Mrs. Ackerson. Stiles was confused at first, because didn't they know? Mrs. Ackerson was his friend and talked to him every Thursday when Stiles would see her down the street. He would wave and she would smile. She would walk over to him, because Stiles couldn't leave the yard, and they would talk. He would tell her about his week and she would tell him stories about when she grew up. They were sometimes funny, but mostly sad and Stiles would try to make her happy again by offering her some of his toys to play with and she would smile and tell him that he was sweet but that he should play with them instead.

That week, when Thursday came around John and Claudia stood outside with Stiles as he played instead of just watching from inside like they usually did. After a few minutes had passed Stiles had stopped playing with his fire truck and started to wave down the street. John and Claudia both stood up and looked to where their son was waving only to see nobody there. They were confused at first and had asked Stiles who he was waving to. Stiles just gave his parents a 'duh' face and pointed to the empty air next to him.

"I'm waving to Mrs. Ackerson, mom. She's right here, can't you see her?" Stiles asked innocently.

"No honey, your father and I can't see her. Can you ask her why?" Claudia asked, always the patient and understanding one.

Stiles just shrugged and looked over to his left and asked the woman why his parents couldn't see her. After a few seconds he made an "oh" noise and nodded his head. "She says that she died a few years ago and that she's actually a ghost. But she says she's not a mean ghost, because those are actually called pole-ter-geese."

"Poltergeist, Honey Bear?"

"Yeah, that!" Stiles shouted with a grin. His mother always knew what he meant. "What is that?"

"It's a mean ghost that plays pranks on people," Claudia explained, walking off the porch and closer to her son. When she reached him she crouched down and looked him in the eye, smile still present on her beautiful face. "Honey Bear, where did you hear that word?"

Stiles giggled, "Just now silly, Mrs. Ackerson just told me it."

After an hour of conversations and explanations Claudia was finally able to understand more. She and John now knew that Mrs. Ackerson was not the only ghost Stiles could see and talk to and that Stiles didn't quite understand why nobody else at school could see them either. Eventually Claudia and John were able to explain to Stiles that what Stiles was seeing were ghosts and slowly explained to him that nobody else could see them, because nobody else was special like Stiles, not even them. Stiles was told not to tell anyone else about his gift, for fear that people might not understand or would want to take his gift away.

Stiles agreed and promised to not tell anyone else, not even the nice boy who just moved into town last week named Scott. Years passed and Stiles stayed true to his word and never told anyone about his gift. He still talked to the ghosts on occasion but not as much as he used to now that he was friends with Scott.

Everything was great and Stiles was happy. But then Stiles mom had gotten sick. At first it started off as small things, a cold here and a dizzy spell there. But then one day his mom fainted when he was at school. Erik Morse, a ghost who had died as a young boy and would sometimes wander Stiles' neighborhood, had showed up at Stiles' school and told him that his mom had fainted in the kitchen and needed help.

Stiles was only seven at the time and didn't know what to do. One minute he was working on his subtractions for math class and the next minute he was shouting at the teacher that his mom was hurt and that he needed to go help her. The teacher thought that Stiles was playing a prank on him and since Stiles couldn't tell him how he knew that he mom was hurt without telling him about his gift he just cried and told the teacher to call his dad, because his dad was the sheriff now and he would know what to do.

The teacher had told Stiles to sit down in his seat and finish his work sheet and that he would call his father and tell him what had happened. It was originally supposed to be a threat, since the teacher was sure that Stiles was only messing with him but a half hour later the Principal had come down to the class and told Stiles' teacher that he needed to talk to Stiles.

The teacher had pulled Stiles from the classroom and walked with him out to the hallway and asked the Principal what sort of punishment Stiles was going to get for disrupting his classroom for a prank. Stiles was crying now because he just knew, he knew, that his mom was hurt and that she needed her Honey Bear.

The Principal explained that Stiles wasn't actually in trouble. That after Stiles' dad had gotten the call he had headed home to check on Stiles' mom to make sure that she really was okay and that he had found her passed out in the kitchen. She was rushed to the hospital and was being looked over now but that the doctors think there might be something really wrong. Stiles was being pulled out of class because his father was sending a patrol car over to take him to the hospital to see his parents.

The teacher was speechless at first but had apologized to Stiles and the principal for just assuming that Stiles was lying. Stiles didn't care that he didn't believe him because he had called his dad anyway and had told his teacher as such. The principal had nodded his head and then lead Stiles to his office to wait for his ride.

When Stiles had arrived to the hospital it was to see his mom in one of the hospital beds with an IV stuck in her arm and his dad sitting in the chair next to her. When Claudia had seen her son walk in she grinned at him and motioned for him to climb onto the bed next to her, the side opposite of the IV.

Stiles carefully crawled into the bed and curled up next to his mom. They hugged and shared small puppy kisses with each other as doctors moved in and out of the room. They spoke but Stiles didn't really understand what they were saying to him. His father just nodded and asked questions while his mother just listened silently.

Stiles didn't want to hear what the doctors had to say anyway, because they never said anything good. They only said bad things, like how he needed shots or that he needed to take some nasty medicine to feel better. But if all his mommy needed to feel better was to take some nasty medicine then he could deal with that. He could even take it for her if she didn't want to.

Later, when all the doctors had left and it had become dark out his dad had explained to him that mom might be really sick and that she might have to stay for a few nights just to make sure nothing happens. Stiles nodded and asked if he could stay too because mom shouldn't have to sleep alone in a big scary hospital while he got to sleep in his nice bed at home. John agreed that it would be okay. He explained that he would have to go back to work but that he would be back with a change of clothes for Stiles tomorrow.

Stiles asked if he had to go back to school tomorrow because he really didn't want to go back when mommy might need him. Mom was sick, what if someone came to hurt her, Stiles needed to be there to protect her until mommy was better again. John smiled and shook his head before telling Stiles that since mommy was sick that Stiles could miss the rest of the week to watch over her. Stiles grinned and cuddled up to his mom again, making sure that she wasn't hurting.

Before his dad left for work that night he asked Stiles how he knew that mom had fainted. Stiles frowned because he didn't want to remember how he felt when he found out but told his dad and mom that Erik had told him since he saw mommy fall when he had walked past the kitchen window.

Claudia smiled and told Stiles to thank Erik the next time he saw him for her while John patted Stiles head and told him to thank Erik for him as well. But Stiles didn't get to see Erik again for a long time after that. A week had gone by of constant tests and needles for his mother before the doctors had finally found out what was wrong with her.

Claudia had a brain tumor. She had a very specific brain tumor called oligodendroglioma, which was a type of glioma tumor that grew in the frontal and temporal parts of the brain. Unfortunately they were not lucky enough to only get a grade 1, or even 2 type of growth. Claudia had a grade 3 growth that required for her to go into immediate surgery to get most of it removed. Then, once it was removed Claudia had to have MRIs and radiotherapy and take some medicine to make sure that the tumor didn't grow back.

Stiles went back to school because he couldn't miss any more days. He didn't tell anyone what had happened, not even Scott. Nearly three weeks after his mom fainted Stiles finally saw Erik again. He thanked him and hugged him because without Erik's help his mom might not have gotten the help she needed when she needed it.

A month of treatment went by before Stiles' mom could finally come home. She was tired all the time and she was always in pain. One night Stiles woke up to hear his mom crying in the bathroom because she was losing her hair. Stiles knew him mommy didn't want to lose her hair because she didn't think she would be pretty anymore, but that wasn't true because his mommy was always pretty. So, that weekend when his mom took him to the hair salon to shave off the rest of her hair, Stiles had hopped into the seat next to hers and asked the lady to shave his hair off too so he would look just as pretty as his mom. Claudia cried again but when Stiles had asked why she was sad she only shook her head and told him that her tears were tears of joy.

Despite all of the problems and the pain that plagued her days Claudia always had a smile for Stiles when he got home from school. She would help him with his homework when he was stuck on a question. She even made his favorite dish for dinner on his birthday; taco twist. It was his favorite because it had all the taste of a taco with all the fun of a twisty noddle casserole. Scott was also there for the party and had some as well. He didn't think he would like it at first because it looked weird and had a funny name, but as soon as he took his first bite he was scarfing it down and asking for a second plate.

Sometimes Stiles would forget that his mom was sick, but then something would happen and it would come crashing down again. Sometimes his mom would get really dizzy just standing up. Sometimes she would get sick at the smell of something, like cooking meat with grease or strong coffee and she would have to go to the bathroom or the nearest trash can and throw up. She didn't like it when Stiles would see her like that and would tell him to look away but he wouldn't, because his mommy needed him. So Stiles would grab a cold rag and dab at the back of his mom's neck, like dad would do sometimes, and rub her back while singing Bohemian Rhapsody until she was better again.

This went on for a while, and Stiles would sometimes wish that his mom would get better. He started talking to some of the ghosts that visited still and he would tell them about how his mom was the best and that if she got better he would take her to all his favorite places again and have fun because mom doesn't have as much fun as she used to.

Almost a year after the first treatment Stile's mom had had her first seizure. She had been sitting in the living room watching the Amazing Spiderman with Stiles and John when it had hit. She started shaking really bad and Stiles was freaking out because he didn't know what to do. Why was mommy moving like that? Was she hurt? Dad had shouted for Stiles to call 911 and give him the phone. Stiles had stood there, frozen for a second in fear before snapping out of it and running for the phone in the kitchen and dialing 911 like his daddy had taught him.

The ambulance had arrived and took him mom away on a stretcher, rushing her to the hospital. Dad had grabbed a bag and shoved a few things into it before telling Stiles to get into his patrol car. Stiles and his dad had driven to the hospital in near silence, both worrying about Claudia and wondering if she would be okay.

When they arrived to the hospital the doctors had told them that his mom was okay now and that she just needed to rest. John and Stiles had walked into the room and Stiles nearly cried again just seeing his mom hooked up to so many machines. She looked so small a frail just lying there.

Just like last time Claudia had smiled at Stiles and motioned for him to join her on the bed. Stiles climbed up next to her and cried into her shoulder, telling her how he thought he had almost lost her. Claudia just hugged him and held him, letting Stiles cry until he felt a little better again.

The doctors had told them that the tumor was growing again and that they would have to have more treatments to slow it down. Stiles hated whenever his mom had to have a treatment because she would always be especially tired for a few days afterwards. But he knew that if his mom was going to get better she had to do it.

Things went back to normal again after that. They only had two more close calls in the couple years that followed. However, by the time that Stiles was ten, his mom had gotten so sick that she had to stay in a hospital bed with machines hooked up to her. Stiles would visit her every day after school and tell her about his day. Sometimes, when he was extra sad he would cry and promise her that he would act better and not be so hyper all the time if she would just get better. Whenever that happened his mother would cry too and tell him that he was her perfect Honey Bear, and that she wouldn't change him for the world.

At times Stiles really hated the hospital because so many people had died there. But, unlike his other friends, these ghosts were always crying or would demand Stiles to tell their family messages for them. Stiles wished that they would just leave him alone so he could just spend some alone time with his mom.

Whenever Stiles couldn't be at the hospital and his dad was stuck at work Stiles would have to be babysat. Stiles was not a baby, no matter what Scott said, so he liked to call it Stiles'sitting instead. A nice lady, who was a senior in high school, would come over and watch him. Her name was Laura Hale and she was very pretty, just like his mom before she got really sick. Stiles' mom was still very pretty, just not in the same way anymore.

Laura would make Stiles dinner (a healthy meal because he was a growing boy and he didn't need junk food) and then they would go to the living room and play a game or watch a movie. She would let him pick what to watch, so long as it was appropriate, and he would let her pick the games they played. She was smart and funny and Stiles really liked her because she let him stay up till 11 on weekends so long as all his homework and chores were done.

Laura was like the big sister or the aunt Stiles always wanted. She even told Stiles that she thought he was like one of her little brothers as well. She would sometimes talk about her family with him whenever they were eating dinner. She would talk about all her siblings, her older and younger ones, and she would tell stories about her many aunt, uncles, and cousins as well. She even had a niece already because her older sister was married and had a child last year.

Stiles really liked her and every once and awhile he would think about what it would be like to tell Laura about his gift. She would probably smile and hug him and accept him for who he was. But then Stiles would remember his promise to his mother and father and forget about telling her.

By now Stiles would only talk with his ghost friends at night when he was supposed to be asleep, when his father was home, or when he was sure that Laura was busy downstairs and she couldn't hear him. His ghost friends knew that Stiles wasn't trying to ignore them and would accept his apologies whenever he would go more than a day without talking to them.

But tragedy struck when a couple of months before Stiles eleventh birthday his mother had finally passed away. Stiles had just entered the hospital room where Claudia had been staying for the last eight months. She was really sick that day and was telling Stiles how much she loved him and how her Honey Bear was going to grow into such a strong and wonderful man one day. Stiles just smiled, thinking his mom was just really happy that day. When it finally came to the time that Stiles would normally be taken home by Laura Claudia asked for Stiles not to leave her just yet. Stiles didn't know why mommy wanted him to stay all of the sudden but didn't think anything of it because if mommy wanted to have a sleep over at the hospital then Stiles would stay with her. That night before Stiles went to sleep Claudia had started to cry and hugged him till he almost couldn't breathe. She held on for a really long time, but Stiles didn't mind because even though he couldn't stay still for very long due to ADHD he could always manage to stay still for his mother's hugs. They stayed like that for a while until his mom pulled away and kissed him on the forehead. She had tears running down her checks as she told him that she was proud of him.

Stiles didn't know why mommy was so sad all of a sudden. Mommy was crying really hard right now and Stiles didn't know how to help her be happy again. Climbing into the bed next to her, like he usually did when he wanted to be closer to her, Stiles curled up at her side and wrapped his small hand in her frail one. Their fingers wrapped around each other's as Claudia silently cried. Stiles frowned at how weak his mother's grip was but just squeezed it tighter to show that he was still there for her. A few minutes passed in silence as they stayed like that, just holding on and comforting each other.

Slowly and gradually Stiles' mom's grip began to get weaker and weaker. Stiles didn't know what that meant so he just brought up his other hand and joined it with his other one, so that her hand was covered with both of his. He brought the now slack hand up to his face and kissed the knuckles. Stiles closed his eyes before turning his head up to look at his mother, wanting to see her smile one more time before falling asleep.

But he never got to see it.

When Stiles first looked up he thought his mother was just asleep because she looked so peaceful just lying there. When Stiles called out for his mother she didn't stir or move. He called again but still nothing. Her hand was now completely slack in Stiles' hands and was starting to turn cold. Tears began to fall down Stiles' face as he continued to call out for his mother but even shaking her shoulders didn't raise a reaction from her.

Stiles' cry for his mother became so loud at one point that a nurse had come in to see what the matter was. A moment later she shouted for a doctor to come in, which caused a lot of men and woman with lab coats to come in and crowd the bed around Stiles and his mom. One of the nurses tried to pull Stiles from his mom but he wouldn't let go of her hand. He knew what was going on but he didn't want to believe that it was true.

An hour later Stiles was sitting in his dad's lap outside of her room as he cried. Stiles gripped his dad's shirt as he cried for hours. John cried silently with Stiles, both mourning for the amazing woman that they had just lost. Laura had showed up later, after she had heard the news, and asked if there was anything she could do. Stiles just shook his head as he cried harder, knowing that there wasn't anything Laura could do, no matter how great she was.

That night Stiles and his dad had fallen asleep together in his dad's bed, holding on to each other in fear of losing someone else that night. Stiles missed the rest of the school year since there was only two weeks left anyway. The funeral for his mom was four days after she had passed; something simple and small with family and friends. Laura had shown up along with her mom and two of her younger siblings that Stiles didn't remember the names of.

A month went by filled with tears and pain. A month where Stiles had locked himself in his room and refused to come out for anything or anyone. A month where Stiles' dad had worked himself day and night, afraid to stay still for longer than a minute in case he began to think about that night. A month filled with constant panic attacks that made Stiles' feel like his heart was going to burst. A month before Stiles realized that the friends that he used to see with such clarity were no longer there, making him feel so much more alone.

Then things got worse when less than two months after Stiles' mom had past Laura's family all burned in a fire. Laura left town right after with her brother, the only ones to make it out of the fire alive and unhurt because they had been at school. She never even stopped to say goodbye to Stiles and that's what made her absence hurt more than his ghost friends.

The years passed and Stiles still had panic attacks on occasionally. His father stopped working all day and night but still worked longer than Stiles had liked. Scott became Stiles' only friend since Stiles could no longer talk to and see ghosts. Over the years Stiles made a mask for himself to hide his hurt behind. He was goofy and smiled a lot, he joked and talked nonstop about anything and everything to fill the silence that now plagued his everyday life. Stiles got a crush on Lydia, a beautiful girl with a big brain that would never go for a guy like him, to cover up the fact that Stiles didn't think he deserve to be loved.

Stiles would occasionally visit the grave site where his mother was buried in hopes that he might see her there, just like he used to see Mrs. Ackerson or Erik, or any of his old ghost friends. But every time Stiles' heart would sank a little further when he only saw tombstones and flowers. On occasion, when Stiles was particularly sad and feeling down, he could swear he could feel her standing next to him, but when he would look there would be nothing there.

Though Stiles couldn't see or hear the dead like he used to he still felt a connection with them. Sometimes, when he would visit the hospital with Scott to see his friend's mom, he would get a feeling that didn't belong to him. Sometimes, when Stiles was with his dad at a crime scene he could see a dark shadow hanging around. And on one rare occurrence, when Stiles was at a scene where a man was killed he tripped and almost fell into the stretcher that was moving the dead body from the scene and he could have sworn he heard a voice tell him that the murder weapon was under the couch.

Stiles almost brushed it off as just the wind but after hearing an officer tell his dad that they couldn't find a murder weapon he pulled his dad to the side and told him to check under the couch. His dad just gave him a funny look, knowing that Stiles had not seen or heard a ghost in almost five years, before sighing and telling the nearest officer to check under the couches. Five minutes later they were bagging a kitchen knife as evidence to be dusted for fingerprints later.

After that Stiles realized how much he missed talking to and seeing ghosts. How he missed the conversations, the stories, the feeling that he got whenever he would learn about his friends. That was why when Stiles over heard over the police scanner about half a body that was found in the woods he just had to find the other half of the body for himself. Stiles had a theory that the closer he was to the dead body the better the connection he got with them. If he could just find the other half of the body then maybe he could talk to the ghost of the victim and get their story or some information that he could tell his dad so that he could find the murderer faster. If Stiles could help his dad with the case then maybe he wouldn't have to work himself so hard all of the time.

But Stiles didn't get to find the other half of the body before his dad caught him and forced Stiles to go home, leaving Scott in the woods all by himself. That was when everything changed for Scott and for him.


	2. My Best Friend is a Werewolf

**AN: Sorry for the wait, I'll try to not do that as often with this story. However, I am in College again so homework does come first. This chapter took me awhile to start since I didn't know how to go about it. Should I quickly skim the first episode or should I actually go into a little detail? I didn't want to rewrite the whole episode since it's not much different than the original right now. As a result, this chapter is about half the size of the first chapter. **

**In addition, I would love to thank all of those who left a review, as each one left me so happy and inspired me to write more for you. So thank you.**

**Sorry about the long AN, I'll try to keep them short in the future, if I have one at all. **

**Title: Seeing Is Believing**

**Rating: T (For now)**

**Pairings: None for now but might turn into Stiles/Derek later**

**Spoiler: Episode One**

**Chapter: My Best Friend is a Werewolf**

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The week following that night in the woods was crazy and unbelievable. Despite his gift Stiles didn't think, didn't even entertain the notion, that there could be more out in the world; creatures of the night and people with extraordinary gifts.

That night in the woods Scott was bitten by a werewolf. They didn't know that at first though, as Scott had told Stiles that he had been bitten by a wolf. Of course Stiles was all too happy to inform his friend that there hadn't been any wolves in California in over 60 years. But Scott was adamant that it was a wolf that had bitten him the night before. Stiles just figured that Scott had been so afraid at the time that he just thought he saw and heard a wolf when it was probably just the wind and some big rodent. Or at least, that's what he thought until lacrosse practice started. Scott had done things on that field that Stiles hadn't even thought his friend even knew how to do, much less actually be able to do them.

After school ended and lacrosse practice was over Stiles and Scott had gone back to the woods to look for the other half of the body that Scott had said he had found and to grab Scott's inhaler that he had dropped the night before. Scott started to freak out again, thinking that he was going to die from some sort of infection or something. Stiles tried to lighten the mood by jokingly telling Scott that he had lycanthropy. Scott, ever the gullible and naive one, actually thought that it was a real disease.

By the time that they had entered the area where Scott had said he had found the body the tension was gone and the air was a little lighter. At first Stiles thought that Scott had made a mistake. There was no body in sight, whole or half. The boys began to search the ground, Stiles for the body and Scott for his inhaler.

Despite the absence of a physical body Stiles knew that Scott was right, there had been a body in the clearing, and recently too. Stiles could feel small traces of something he couldn't describe. Like a lingering scent or a static felling that made his hair rise. Not strong enough to get anything off of it, but just enough to know it was there.

Before Stiles could investigate further he spotted a dark figure in the corner of his eye. Thinking that it might be the ghost Stiles turned towards the blur and noticed that the figure was actually a man who stood a few yards off, staring at the two boys as they searched the clearing. Stiles nudged Scott to warn him of their company. The dark figure scowled at them before demanding to know why they were trespassing. A vague sense of familiarity overtook Stiles as he studied the man. It was like Stiles had seen him before but couldn't remember who he was. It wasn't until the man threw Scott's inhaler at him, warning them to get off his land that Stiles remembered. He was a Hale, meaning that he must be Derek, since Laura and Derek were the only ones to survive the fire.

Scott, ever the clueless one, didn't seem to remember the Hales or the fire until Stiles reminded him. It didn't matter though because the return of one of the Hales wasn't the important thing right now. What was important right now was trying to figure out where the other half of the body had gone. Unfortunately there wasn't really a trail to follow, physically or "spiritually". That left the two boys back to where they started; nowhere.

Scott left for work before he was late and Stiles had stuck around for just a bit longer, making sure that he hadn't missed anything. As time slipped passed so, too, did the feeling Stiles got when he first arrived. Now there was almost nothing.

Angry at the person or animal who moved the body, irritation at the police for stopping his search yesterday, and furious with himself for not finding anything Stiles had gone home and spend half the night on the internet searching for information on Laura or Derek Hale, trying to see what had happened to them since the fire.

By morning Stiles still had nothing about the two sole Hales other than the fact that the fire was suspected to be arson and that they both had an uncle in the permanent intensive care wing at the Beacon Hills Hospital due to severe burns all over his body and being in an almost comma-like state. Information that was both something Stiles couldn't do anything about and wouldn't help him in his current problem. However, as Stiles was getting ready to leave his house for school he overheard his dad on the phone. Results from the autopsy were in and the hair on the first half of the body was identified as wolf hair.

When Stiles went to go tell Scott this at the morning lacrosse practice he was ignored. Scott was too busy trying to impress the coach with his "skills" and get on first string that he completely ignored Stiles. Which was rude, Stiles knew that, but it wasn't entirely a new thing. Whenever Scott was focused on something he wanted, nothing would stop him. But that didn't mean that Scott was in control. As soon as Stiles recognized what might be happening to Scott he knew that all the jokes from the day before weren't just jokes anymore.

Stiles' best friend was now a werewolf. This meant that Stiles was going to have to be there for him to make sure that he didn't hurt himself, or anyone else, as was the job of the best friend. So that night Stiles took more Adderall than was safe and spent another all-nighter on the internet googling facts about wolves and myths about werewolves.

However, despite his now almost expert advice and knowledge about the supernatural canines, convincing his friend what he now was became a whole different challenge. Scott didn't even believe Stiles, which had hurt Stiles' feelings because why would he lie about something like this?

Throughout the whole fight about whether Scott should go to the party or not Stiles mind went into a hundred different directions. What will happen if he couldn't convince Scott to stay home tonight? What's going to happen to him once the moon came out? How will he keep his friend from hurting others and himself? If Scott was a werewolf, who was the one that turned him? Were they good or bad? Who was the murder victim? Why were they killed? Does the return of the Hales have anything to do with werewolves? But out of all the unanswered questions that buzzed around in his head the one thought that bugged and hurt him the most was, if Scott couldn't even believe that he was a werewolf, even with all the evidence, than how would he ever believe Stiles when, or if, he told Scott about his gift?

Shaking his head to clear his thoughts Stiles tried to focus on the here and now, because now his best friend was going to a party, with a girl, on the night of the full moon. This could lead to nothing but trouble for everyone.

So, pushing his feelings to the back burner for now, Stiles had left to go to the party and to make sure that Scott would be okay. After studying the claw marks Scott had left on the back of his computer chair Stiles grabbed the keys to his jeep and a sweater as he left for the party, hoping that everything would work out in the end.

At first, everything was fine. The party was great and the music was nice and loud. Scott seemed to be fine and having a good time with his date. If it hadn't been for those claw marks Stiles might have just thought that he was mistaken.

But a little after the sun had set Scott started to look like he was in pain. Allison, the girl he went to the party with, was getting worried. Seeing that his friend was about to change Stiles went to step in to help. Unfortunately Scott had beaten him to it and left the party instead. Allison was left alone on the front lawn next to Stiles. He muttered out a quick excuse before he went to his jeep to leave as well. Nevertheless, that didn't stop Stiles from noticing Derek Hale from his side mirror as Derek helped Allison into his Camaro. Regrettably, Stiles had more important things to do than to investigate that right now.

The rest of the night passed in a burry, crazy, emotional haze as Stiles drove from Scott's house (where he found his friend freaking out), to Allison's house (where he found Allison perfectly fine), the all over the back roads around the reserve. Stiles swore that he was going to lose a few years off of his life if every night continued on like this.

He called Scott periodically the rest of the night, in hopes of finding him or at least finding out if he was alright. He didn't' actually spot Scott until almost morning when he found Scott walking along a back road headed towards town. Despite the fact the Stiles had been up all night driving and trying to find Scott, and therefore had no sleep, Stiles was bursting with anticipation to find out what might have happened to his friend.

The result of his patience came with a rushed explanation from Scott. After which Stiles felt guilty because while he had been complaining of his lack of sleep the past few days Scott had been shot with an arrow and hunted almost the whole night. This information brought up more problems for them to deal with, such as the fact that there were people called Hunters. Apparently people still hunted werewolves in this day and age. The only reason Scott was even still alive was because Derek had helped him escape because, shocker of all shockers, he was a werewolf too. With this revelation in mind Stiles figured that meant the Laura could be a werewolf as well. He was going to have to bring that up the next time he saw her now that they were back in town.

Despite all the world crashing revelations and life changing events that were now the two boys' lives it was nothing compared to the shock Scott felt when he had found out that Allison's dad was the Hunter that had shot him in the middle of the woods. As if things weren't complicated enough already.


	3. I Think That Body Just Talked

**AN: Alright, so it had come to my attention by many people that you guys all want a say on who Stiles might end up with. So I've decided to put up a poll on my profile where you guys can pick who he ends up with. There are many choices to choose from, and you get the chance of having two votes. The poll will stay up for quite a while, so don't worry about not being able to get to it in time. **

**I would like to thank all of you again for reading this story, and a special thank you to all of those who take the time to review this story. For those of you who don't know, as I've already informed those who have already reviewed, ****for every review that I get ****I will write 100 words to the current chapter I'm writing on, whether I want to at the time or not. **

**As we are now starting to get into the story this chapter is over twice as long as the last chapter. Hope that makes up for the long wait on the second chapter and this long author's note. **

**Title: Seeing Is Believing**

**Rating: T (For now)**

**Pairings: None for now but will be determined by you guys at a later date.  
**

**Spoiler: Episode Two**

**Chapter: I Think That Body Just Talked  
**

* * *

Stiles threw his backpack on to his bed as he dropped into his new computer chair. He let out a groan before turning on his computer. Today had been a very trying day. First Scott almost transformed right in front of the whole lacrosse field, where everyone could see him. Then, just after Stiles was able to pull his best friend away from the crowd and into the men's locker room, Scott had almost killed him.

Stiles was just glad that he had found that fire extinguisher when he did, otherwise he might be lying in a hospital bed instead of at home. Scott was immediately sorry and worried about what might have happened had Stiles not stopped him. All of this was voiced with such a sad puppy-dog look on his face that Stiles had almost awed. Of course, now that Scott was a werewolf the whole "hurt puppy" look was all the more real.

In order to make sure that Scott was safe and that nothing would happen to him or anyone else Stiles had suggested that Scott just take a break from lacrosse this year. Or at least until he got the whole "shifting" thing handled and under control. Stiles had thought that his suggestion was a great idea. Scott didn't seem to think so. Scott started to argue with Stiles about it until it was evident that Scott was losing. Eventually Scott reluctantly agreed to not go to the game Saturday.

With these events in mind Stiles turned on his webcam, ready to do his weekly video chat with Scott. He reached under his desk for the toy laser gun he usually left there for moments like these and set it off just as he spotted Scotts camera turn on.

Stiles has won yet again.

Scott just ignored Stiles' victory and went right into the reason for the call, **"**What'd you find out?"

With a giant grin plastered across his face Stiles placed the gun back down, "Well, it's bad. Jackson's got a separated shoulder."

"Because of me?"

Stiles snorted, "Because he's a tool."

"But is he gonna play?" Scott asked hopefully.

"Well, they don't know yet. Now they're just counting on you for Saturday," Stiles answered truthfully. Just as Stiles was about to continue his conversation he noticed that something was off about Scott's room. In the corner there was a dark figure where there was once nothing before. Slowly, as to not startle the thing into attacking, Stiles began to type to Scott that there was something in the room with him.

Unfortunately, just after Stiles had sent the message the program had crashed, making Stiles curse loudly. Grateful that his dad was still out at work Stiles stood up and began to pace. He was about 72 percent sure that Scott was going to be okay. He was a werewolf now and that meant better reflexes and greater strength. But there was still that chance that the figure was a werewolf as well. Probably Derek if he had to guess.

This required more research and an extra dose of Adderall.

By the next morning Stiles was wired up and run down all at the same time. He took another dose of his medicine before he grabbed his school bag and rushed out the door, having heard his dad already leave an hour prior for work. Yet, as Stiles pulled up to the school, he noticed his father's cruiser in the parking lot. Locking up his jeep he rushed to where he figured his father would be.

Rounding the corner Stiles stumbled before coming to a screeching halt. Stiles took a few steps back and threw himself back around the corner before he was spotted. A few seconds passed before he poked his head around the corner to make sure that his father hadn't seen his little "special moment".

Fortunately for Stiles, his father was too busy talking to the principal of the school to notice him. Stiles strained his ears to hear what was so important but couldn't make out anything that was being said. Just as he was about to give up and find a different way to ease drop on the conversation Scott had walked up to him looking lost.

"Hey, come here."

Scott blinked a couple of times before focusing on Stiles, "What?"

Stiles waves him closer, "Come here. Tell me what they're saying. Can you hear 'em?"

Scott didn't even argue as he relayed what he heard from the sheriff. "Curfew because of the body."

Stiles nearly shouted in anger, "Unbelievable. My dad's out looking for a rabid animal, while the jerk - off who actually killed the girl is just hangin' out, doing whatever he wants."

Scott tried to reason with Stiles by reasoning with him. "Well, you can't exactly tell your dad the truth about Derek."

Stiles' thoughts hardened as he realized what he would have to do. "I can do something."

"Like what?"

"Find the other half of the body."

"Are you kidding?"

No, Stiles wasn't. Scott and he would have to find the other half of the body and prove that Derek was the killer, and soon. With the new curfew in place, getting around town to find the other half of the body was going to be a whole lot harder, but not impossible.

After school got out Stiles drove back home to get a head start on his resent research project to figure out the location on where the body might be. He popped some more Adderall before booting up his computer and pulling up google. Twenty minutes later Stiles had found two different dump sites, and four other possible locations that someone could dump a body before remembering that there was a whole reserve covered in a forest that the killer could use.

Tapping his foot up and down and groaning in frustration, Stiles was about to give up and just call it quits for the night when his phone beeped. Glancing at the screen Stiles noticed he had a text message from Scott telling him that he had found something that might help them find the body.

Stiles let out a whoop of joy before sprinting out of the house and over to Scott's. So excited was he that he barely stopped himself from running into Scott's bedroom door before bursting into the room. Breathlessly, Stiles began to question his friend, "What did you find? How did you find it? Where did you find it? And, yes, I've had a lot of Adderall, so –"

Scott cut off Stiles' rant, "I found something at Derek Hale's."

"Are you kidding? What?"

"There's something buried there - I could smell blood."

Stiles grinned, happy that they just might have a lead finally. "That's awesome!" Stiles shouted, but then remembered that finding blood was actually supposed to be a bad thing, "I mean, that's terrible. Whose blood?"

Scott shrugged, "I don't know. But when we do, your dad nails Derek for the murder. And then you help me figure out how to play lacrosse without changing. Because there's no way I'm not playing that game."

Stiles completely agreed with that first part and decided to get to the part about the game later. The boys came up with a plan. They were going to find a way into the morgue at the hospital and have Scott smell the other half of the body to see if the two scents matched. If the two scents matched they would go over to Derek's old home and camp out for the night until Derek left the house so they could get to the body.

Scott figured that since his mother worked at the hospital and he was seen there all the time giving his mother her dinner that it wouldn't look out of place if he just showed up. Because of that Scott would be the only one to go into the back where the morgue was and leave Stiles in the waiting room. Stiles was more than happy with this plan, not only because it made sense but because he didn't want to be anywhere near the morgue of the hospital where he might experience something with his "gift".

While sitting in the waiting room Stiles tried to look busy as he waited for his friend to get back from his mission. It was while he was pretending to look occupied that he spotted Lydia Martin sitting across the room, waiting for Jackson to be done with his doctor appointment. Stiles clumsily made his way over to her and coughed before he started to rant, "Hey, Lydia. You probably don't remember me. Um, I sit behind you in Biology. Uh, anyway, I always thought that we just had this kind of connection. Unspoken, of course. Maybe it'd be kind of cool to, get to know each other a little better."

He knew that with every word that passed his lips he was only digging himself a bigger hole but he pressed on, if only slightly awkward in his wording, to tell her how he felt for her.

Just when he thought he was getting through to her she turned lifted her hand to her ear, "Hold on, give me a second. Yeah, I didn't get any of what you just said. Is it worth repeating?"

That's when Stiles noticed that she had a Bluetooth device in her ear and she was actually on the phone the whole time. Heart now heavy Stiles shook his head and stuttered out, "No. Sorry. I'll just sit. You don't care," before leaving.

By the time that Stiles made it back to his seat, random pamphlet in hand, he was completely embarrassed and wished, not for the first time, that the floor would just open up and eat him. It was while Stiles was having these thoughts that Scott came and informed him that the blood was, in fact, the same and that they could now get on with the other part of their plan.

That night Stiles and Scott sat in his jeep just a ways off from Derek's house so they could easily spy on him. There was a shovel and flashlight in the back seat, both ready for the task ahead for the two boys.

Stiles was the first to notice that Derek was leaving in his car. He tapped Scott's shoulder and motioned towards the house, signaling that it was now empty. Scott nodded before grabbing the equipment. They walked over to the site where Scott could smell the blood the strongest.

"Wait, something's different," Scott nearly whispered.

"Different how?"

"I don't know. Let's just get this over with," With that Scott started digging while Stiles held the flashlight first, deciding that Scott would take the first digging shift.

Stiles looked around, studying the area. He was having that feeling again, the same one from a few days ago when they were in the woods where Scott found the body the first time. Only this time, the feeling was stronger than just a tingle. Stiles could almost feel the electric-like pulses radiating from the slowly forming hole. Stiles looked down at his arms and watched at his arm hairs were rising, proving that it wasn't all in Stiles' head. A shiver shot through his spine as he realized that it was either the presence of the body or its' ghost that he was feeling. Stiles tried to focus on that feeling, to see if he could get anything off of it. Try as he might Stiles couldn't get anything more than that weird feeling, not even an emotion.

Slowly, as time passed, the feeling began to grow stronger with every layer of dirt that was removed. Ten minutes and a decent sized hole later, Scott let out a huff, "This is taking way too long."

Stiles rolled his eyes, "Just keep going." There was no mistaking the feeling now, they were defiantly getting closer to the body. Any moment now and it would be revealed, Stiles just knew it.

"What if he comes back?"

"Then we get the hell out of here," Stiles answered as if that was obvious.

"What if he catches us?" Scott asked, ever the pessimist.

Stiles smiled, "I have a plan for that."

"Which is?"

"You run one way. I run the other. Whoever he catches first, too bad."

"I hate that plan," Scott deadpanned.

Just as Stiles thought Scott was going to yell at him the shovel hit something in the dirt. Stiles told Scott to stop digging as he jumped into the hole with Scott. That feeling was now cackling like crazy across his skin. Stiles knew it felt weird, it wasn't like the normal feelings he got, but he brushed it off as he got closer to where the body lay. Sweeping away some of the dirt Stiles was able to expose a burlap sack that was tied with a rope. Stiles immediately began to work at the rope, trying to untie it.

"Could you hurry it up please?" Scott asked impatiently.

"I'm trying. Did he have to tie the thing in, like, 900 knots?" Just then the ends of the rope came lose, allowing the boys to open the bag.

The werewolf and medium were both surprised however when the inside of the bag revealed the upper body of a wolf, scaring the two boys as they tried to scramble out of the hole.

"What the hell is that?" Stiles almost screamed.

"It's a wolf," Scott answered in near awe.

"Yeah, I can see that," Stiles sarcastically retorted. "I thought you said you smelled blood, as in human blood."

"I told you something was different."

"This doesn't make sense," Stiles said incredulously.

"We gotta get out of here."

Just as they were about to leave Stiles noticed a flower by the hole. "You see that flower?"

Scott looked at Stiles like he was going crazy, "What about it?"

"I think it's wolfsbane," Stiles answered as he started to walk closer to it.

"What's that?"

Stiles paused in his tracks and looked back at Scott with an disbelieving look on his face, "Uh - Haven't you ever seen the Wolf Man?"

"No."

Trying to get a point across Stiles continued, "Lon Chaney Jr.? Claude Rains? The original, classic werewolf movie?" But Scott's face only grew more confused with each title.

"No! What?"

Shaking his head at the naivety of his werewolf friend Stiles crouched in front of the flower, "You are so unprepared for this."

Stiles tugged on the flower, pulling it out of the ground. It looked like it might have been attached to a rope that was laid in a spiral-like pattern. It wasn't until after the flower was all the way out of the ground that Stiles felt a huge wave of energy hit him, nearly knocking him over. A feeling of betrayal, pain, sadness and regret crept into Stiles, almost making him want to crawl into the fetal position and cry.

Scott spoke up, nearly startling Stiles and allowing him to get a grip, "Stiles?"

The medium looked over toward his friend who was looking into the hole, surprise clearly on his face. Stiles looked down as well and noticed the wolf's body had turned into that of a woman's, almost completely covered in dirt, blood, bites, and claw marks. She was almost entirely unrecognizable; her only visible feature was her dark hair, which might not have been dark for all they knew.

Stiles let out his breath, "Holy-"

"No. Oh God," Scott breathed out.

While Scott walked away to make a call to the police Stiles checked to make sure that Scott really was out of sight before climbing back into the hole. As he got closer the emotions he had been feeling were getting stronger until tears began to prickle at his eye. Brushing them away Stiles steeled himself before he reached out to one of the hands still visible.

As his fingers brushed her wrist Stiles gasped, images flickering in his head almost too fast to identify. Out of all the pictures he saw he could only make out a few, such as one with a burnt house smoking just after a fire, another of a busy city, one of a woods, and finally one of a dark figure standing above him as he lay on the ground.

Stiles struggled with what he was feeling and seeing as he tried to let go. Finally, with one last blurry image of a chain of some kind Stiles was able to let go of her. As he backed away from the body he heard a faint whisper, almost as if coming from the wind itself, telling him a message. "Warn Derek"

Stiles climbed back out of the hole, gasping for breath and sweating from exhaustion. "_Warn Derek?_" What did that mean? Was that it a threat or was it an actual warning for Derek?

By the next morning the whole area was covered in squad cars and police as they searched the area for any other clues. Derek was being lead to the sheriff's car in hand cuffs as the boys watched from the side. Stiles needed to know what that message meant, and the only way to do that was to talk to Derek himself.

Stiles snuck into the front of the car, staring into the back where Derek sat glaring at him. "Okay, just so you know, I'm not afraid of you," Stiles said confidently. His initial swagger was starting to deflate, however, as Derek continued to only glare at him. "Okay, maybe I am. Doesn't matter. I just wanna know something," Stiles said, knowing that getting straight to the point was the best thing to do as he was short on time. "The girl you killed - she was a werewolf. She was a different kind, wasn't she? I mean, she could turn herself into an actual wolf, and I know Scott can't do that. Is that why you killed her?"

If possible Derek glared harder at that before leaning forward in his seat, "Why are you so worried about me," he growled (growled!) out, "When it's your friend who's the problem? When he shifts on the field, what do you think they're gonna do. Just keep cheering him on? I can't stop him from playing, but you can. And, trust me - you want to."

Stiles frowned, thinking about that. Derek had a point, but Stiles was going to figure out a solution to that later. For now he needed answers. But before Stiles could voice his real question he was pulled out of the squad car by his dad.

What followed was probably the most awkward conversation he had with is dad, second only to the time his dad gave him The Talk. By the time his dad let him leave Stiles was all too happy to get away.

The car ride back into town was filled silence until Scott broke it, I can't find anything about wolfsbane being used for burial."

Stiles looked over to his friend, thinking that dealing with one problem at a time was probably for the better. "Just keep looking. Maybe it's like a ritual or something, like maybe they bury you as a wolf. Or maybe it's like a special skill, you know? Like something you have to learn."

"I'll put it on my to - do list, right underneath figuring out how the hell I'm playing this game tonight," Scott answered irritably.

"Maybe it's different for girl werewolves."

"Okay! Stop it!" Scott shouted in anger.

"Stop what?" Stiles asked, seriously confused on what he might have done wrong.

"Stop saying "werewolves"! Stop enjoying this so much."

That's when Stiles noticed that Scott wasn't looking too well, "Are you okay?"

"No!" Scott shouted, nearly breathless in his anger. "No, I'm not. I'm so far from being okay."

"You know, you're gonna have to accept this, Scott, sooner or later," Stiles said, trying to cheer up his friend.

"I can't," Scott virtually choked out.

"Well, you're gonna have to."

"No! I can't breathe. Aah! Ah, pull over!" Scott commanded. Scott began to scramble around the jeep, as if looking for something.

Stiles looked worryingly at the werewolf. "Why? What's happening?"

Finally Scott pulled up Stiles' backpack and pulled out the wolfsbane, nearly shouting out, "You kept it?"

"What was I supposed to do with it?" Stiles asked in return, almost in a panic.

"Stop the car!"

Stiles pulled his jeep over to the side of the road, quickly putting it into park. He practically scrabbled out of the car with the flower in hand before throwing it into the woods. By the time he got back to his jeep Scott to tell him it was okay now his friend was gone.

After exhausting all of his resources trying to find his friend, even calling the police about dog-like humans, Stiles gave up and went home, knowing his father would kill him if he got home and Stiles wasn't there. It wasn't until later that night, when the game was about to start, that Stiles saw Scott again. They were both in the changing room getting ready like the rest of the team when Stiles went up to Scott.

Scott looked over to him before asking harshly, "You gonna try to convince me not to play?"

Stiles frowned before shaking his head, "I just hope you know what you're doing."

"If I don't play, I lose first line and Allison."

Stiles nearly groaned at his friend's priorities. "Allison's not going anywhere. And it's one game that you really don't need to play."

Scott got frustrated as he nearly shouted at Stiles, "I wanna play! I wanna be on the team. I wanna go out with Allison. I want a semi-freaking normal life. Do you get that?"

Stiles closed his eyes for a brief moment before opening them again and staring at his friend, "Just try not to worry too much while you're out there, okay? Or get too angry.

"I got it."

"Or stressed."

"I got it," Scott said again, starting to get irritated.

Stiles didn't notice and continued, "Don't think about Allison being in the stands. Or that her father's trying to kill you. Or that Derek's trying to kill you. Or the girl he killed. Or that you might kill someone. If a hunter doesn't kill you first-" Finally seeing the look on his friend's face Stiles realized that his words were not helping. "I'm sorry. I'll stop. Good luck."

The game began as all the players ran out onto the field, leaving Stiles, Greenburg, and Lahey by themselves as they sat on the bench. Stiles was waiting for the game to start when his dad came over to Stiles and began to talk to him. As his father continued to speak Stiles' heart descended into his stomach. As his dad walked back to his own seat Stiles knew that Scott was going to be mad when he told him after the game.

The game whistle blew, signaling the start of the game. Stiles watched the game from the sidelines like he usually did. It wasn't too long into the start of the game that he began to notice that the players on their team were not passing to Scott. Stiles would have said something about that but knew that it was probably for the best right now. The less focus there was on Scott the better, even if that meant that they lost a game.

Half way through the game Scott somehow was able to get the ball and finally score a point. Getting caught in the moment Stiles cheered for his best friend. But, as the game progressed Stiles began to notice that all was not well for his friend. With every point he scored Scott became fiercer, even making a player from the other team pass to him at one point. Finally, when Scott scored the last point of the period, winning the game for them, Scott had become so far gone that he threw off his gloves and ran for the locker rooms.

Stiles watched as he tried to make it through the large crowd around him. Just as he broke free he spotted Allison running after Scott as well. Cursing under his breath Stiles made an excuse to his father and ran after them both. Stiles made it to the locker rooms right behind Allison. She was too focused however to notice Stiles as he slipped into the room behind her. Just as Stiles thought that they were going to be fine he heard a slight scoff from above the rafters.

Allison didn't notice that either as she called out for Scott. Stiles spotted his friend walking on the beams above their heads, crawling his way towards Allison. Stiles knew that he was no match for a werewolf, and with no fire extinguisher nearby Stiles began to worry. Holding his breath Stiles stared at his friend, hopping with all his might that Scott would calm down and regain his senses.

Just when Stiles thought he was going to have to push Allison out of the way Scott leapt down from the rafters into the opposite direction of them and behind some lockers. A few seconds later he walked out and greeted Allison with a smile.

Stiles back away from the two lovebirds, giving them some alone time as they talked. From around the corner Stiles watched as they both smiled like love-sick puppies and shared a kiss before Allison had to leave. She nodded and greeted Stiles as she walked away. Stiles smiled back before he walked into the room, deeming it safe to enter now.

Scott was grinning so huge that Stiles was afraid that his face might split in half. "I kissed her," Scott said almost dreamily.

Stiles smiled at his friend, "I saw."

"She kissed me," Scott said, disbelief evident in his voice.

Stiles nearly laughed at his friend now, "Saw that too. That's pretty good, huh?"

"I - I - I don't know how, but I controlled it," Scott proudly answered. "I pulled it back. Maybe I can do this. Maybe it's not that bad."

Stiles' smile faded however when he recalled what his dad had told him at the start of the game. "Yeah, heh. We'll talk later, then."

Scott detected the trouble in Stiles' voice and asked, "What?"

Stiles signed before explaining, "The, uh, medical examiner looked at the other half of the body we found." Stiles paused here, not knowing how to tell his friend.

"And – " Scott asked, getting impatient.

"Well, I'll keep it simple. Medical examiner determines killer of girl to be animal, not human. Derek's human, not animal. Derek not killer. Derek let out of jail."

"Are you kidding?" Scott asked incredulity.

"No, and here's a bigger kick in the ass. My dad I.D.'d the dead girl. Both halves. Her name was Laura Hale."

Scott's brows scrunched as he heard that, "Hale?"

"Derek's sister."


	4. Back to Last Night

**AN:Another chapter already. Just don't expect all of my update to be this fast.  
**

**Just a reminder that the poll vote for who Stiles will end up being paired with is still up on my profile. You get two votes so choose wisely.**

**Also I would like to thank all of you again for all the views, favorites, follows, and reviews. **

**Title: Seeing Is Believing**

**Rating: T (For now)**

**Pairings: None for now but will be determined by you guys at a later date.  
**

**Spoiler: Episode Three**

**Chapter: Back to Last Night  
**

* * *

Another night passed with hardly any sleep for Stiles followed by another morning where his father was already gone for work. Not that any of this was new to Stiles, he just wished that he wasn't so used to it. Almost a full week had passed since Stiles had told Scott who the body had belonged to. A week of lazy school work and half guesses as to what was going on in Beacon Hills passed incredibly too slow for Stiles. Today was Friday and the two boys still were not any closer to their answers.

Stuffing an Adderall pill and half a strawberry poptart into his mouth Stiles left for school, hoping that today would be easy. He didn't think he could stay awake long enough to deal with it if it wasn't.

The drive to school was filled with silence. Not even the radio played as Stiles thought about what he had learned Saturday night. Apparently, the body that Stiles and Scott had found was Laura Hale's body. And didn't that just make Stiles feel like an ass. Knowing now that this whole time he had dragged Scott along to find half a body was actually him looking for his one-time babysitter and best friend.

Because that's was Laura was to him; his best friend. Or, at least, she had been. Now she was dead, murdered, and Stiles didn't know what to do with that information. Normally he would try to find out who would want to kill a werewolf, or even Laura for that matter. But now, all Stiles would think about was the vacant look in Laura's eyes and the scared expression forever frozen on her face. And to make matters worse, her killer was still out there, and he had no idea who they were.

Man, he was going to have a lot of nightmares when he finally did fall asleep.

Pulling up to the school Stiles tried to clear his thoughts. Students milled around the parking lot and front entrance of the school, talking to friends and gossiping amongst each other. To think, none of these people knew the horrors that roamed the night. Stiles wished he could go back to before this whole mess started, only worrying about petty things like passing chemistry class, getting acne, and trying to gain Lydia's attention (though hopefully not with the acne).

Stiles pushed and waived through the crowd, trying to get to Scott's locker. From half way down the hallway Stiles watched as Scott rummage through his locker. Even from this distance he could tell there was something bothering the werewolf.

Scott slammed the locker closed and turned, nearly running into Stiles along the way. Mumbling an apology the two boys began to walk together. Noticing that his best friend was defiantly on the edge Stiles asked him what was wrong, still thinking that the other teen was worried about Derek or something.

Instead Scott began to tell Stiles about the horribly realistic dream he had the night before. The fear in the other's voice as he told his story was almost tangible. Finally the werewolf finished with how he had shifted in front of Allison.

"So you killed her?" Stiles asked, filling in the blank that Scott had left at the end of his story.

"I don't know," Scott said as he furrowed his eyebrows thinking about it. "I just woke up. And I was sweating like crazy, and I couldn't breathe. I've never had a dream where I woke up like that before."

"Really? I have. Usually ends a little differently," Stiles said, trying to reassure his best friend by joking with him.

Scott snorted before giving his friend a weird look, "A, I meant I've never had a dream that felt that real, and B, never give me that much detail about you in bed again."

Stiles smiled, knowing that he had successfully lightened the dark mood. "Noted." Beside, Stiles knew that his friend was nervous about his date tomorrow and his dreams were just projecting his fears. "Let me take a guess here-"

Scott cut his friend off, know just what he was going to say, "No, I know, you think it has something to do with me going out with Allison tomorrow, like I'm gonna lose control and rip her throat out."

Stiles scoff, "No, of course not." Sarcasm. "Yeah, that's totally it. Hey, come on, it's gonna be fine, all right? Personally, I think you're handling this pretty freakin' amazingly. You know, it's not like there's a lycanthropy for beginners class you can take."

"Yeah, not a class, but maybe a teacher," Scott hinted, giving his friend a knowing look.

Stiles nearly tripped once he realized who Scott was talking about. "Who, Derek? You forgetting the part where we got him tossed in jail?"

"Yeah, I know, but chasing her, dragging her to the back of the bus, it felt so real."

Stiles paused slightly before he asked, "How real?"

"Like it actually happened."

Just then the two boys were finally about to push through the crowd and passed the back doors that lead to the lacrosse field. The sight that greeted the boys was enough to make them both freeze. In front of them was a bus sectioned off by police tape as officers moved around the crime scene. But what caught their attention was the fact that the whole back door of the bus was dented and almost completely off its hinges. Bloody hand prints were smeared all over the back of the bus, a small pool slowly dripping from the floor inside.

The only thing that Stiles could think to say slipped out of his mouth before he could stop himself, "I think it did."

Because for a moment there Stiles really believed that someone had been killed. That was, until he began to focus on his surroundings and realized that he didn't even feel a trace of a lingering thought, feeling or presence. Nothing to indicate to Stiles that someone or something had died. Even if someone had died here and had been moved Stiles would have still felt something. The whole thing only happened last night so just like when half of Laura's body had been moved in the woods Stiles would have felt a tingle or something. But there was nothing.

Before Stiles could take back his words and reassure Scott that nothing had happened his friend was already gone. Scott had immediately pulled out his phone and turned around back into the school. He was pressing buttons into it furiously as he ran through the halls, his head turning side to side occasionally as he began searching for Allison. It took Stiles a minute to finally catch back of with his friend. "She's probably fine," Stiles let out breathlessly, trying to calm the werewolf down so that he wouldn't shift in from of everyone.

Scott looked at his phone again, "She's not answering my texts, Stiles."

"It could just be a coincidence, all right? A seriously amazing coincidence."

Scott growled, "Just help me find her, okay? Do you see her?"

Stiles looked around for a second before answering truthfully, "No."

Scott let out another growl before punching a locker, denting it completely. Just as Stiles felt like Scott was going to start shifting again Scott bumped into Allison. Literally. Stiles watched as the two love birds began to talk, the worry leaving Scott with every word exchanged. Felling that everything was going to be okay for a bit Stiles walked away to give them some privacy.

An announcement a minute later informed the students that despite what may have happened on the bus last night classed were still going to continue as scheduled. Stiles frowned at this. What kind of school would allow students to attend classes when someone was nearly killed the night before just outside one of their doors?

Just then the warning bell rang out, letting the student know that if they didn't get to class soon they would be late. The hallways began to clear pretty quickly, leaving Stiles standing nearly alone within seconds. Resigned to another day of boring lectures and trying not to fall asleep in class Stiles turned towards his first class of the day.

Fortunately Stiles was able to get to his first class in time. Mr. Harris shot Stiles a glare as he just barely made it through the doorway before the second bell. Giving the chemistry teacher a sheepish smile Stiles made his way to his seat. Harris frowned before turning to the board and began writing on it. Stiles leaned over towards Scott now that everyone was focus on the day's lesson.

Scott leaned in as well, meeting Stiles half way. "Maybe it was my blood on the door," Scott whispered hopefully.

"Could have been animal blood," Stiles suggested, whispering as well. "You know, maybe you caught a rabbit or something."

"And did what?"

"Ate it," Stiles said straight-faced. Despite Stiles not getting a feeling of death at the site of the bus he knew that if something had died it probably was a small animal. Animals were always touch-and-go with Stiles' powers. Sometimes he could pick up on them, depending on the size of the animal. He always figured it had something to do with the size of its soul. He once saw the ghost of a police dog at the station when he was a kid, and the neighbor's cat which roamed the yard. But he never saw anything small like rodents. That must have been why when Scott and Stiles first started digging for Laura's body Stiles felt off.

"Raw?" Scott asked incredulously, nearly shouting and breaking Stiles from his train of thought.

Stiles gave his best friend a 'what do you think' look. "No, you stopped to bake it in a little werewolf oven. I don't know, you're the one who can't remember anything."

Just as Scott was about to retort the two boys were interrupted by Mr. Harris. "Mr. Stilinksi, if that's your idea of a hushed whisper, you might want to pull the headphones out every once in a while. I think you and Mr. McCall would benefit from a little distance, yes?"

"No," Stiles answered almost immediately.

But that didn't stop Harris from making the two boys move seats. Stiles moved to sit next to Danny while Scott sat next to some burnet named Jessica.

"Let me know if the separation anxiety gets to be too much," Harris dryly teased before turning back to the board. Stiles frowned at the back of the teacher. Stiles really hated that guy. Really, he didn't even know how Harris was able to be a teacher.

Before Stiles could really think further about the lack of care in the school board one of the girls by the window, Harley Stiles thinks her name is, stood up and shouted, "Hey, I think they found something."

Everyone in the room stood up at that and rushed over to the windows, even Harris. They all watched as a couple of paramedics pushed a stretcher over towards an ambulance truck. On the stretcher lay a man who looked to have been attacked by a huge animal.

"That's not a rabbit," Scott pointed out.

Just then the man on the stretcher sat up and started screaming, scaring anyone and everyone who happened to be watching him. Stiles and Scott jumped back away from the window and group of children.

"Okay. This is good, this is good. He got up, he's not dead. Dead guys can't do that," Stiles stuttered out.

"Stiles - I did that."

Before Stiles could think about something to say to reassure his best friend Mr. Harris moved away from the window and instructed all the students to move back to their seats or he'd start handing out detentions. Not wanting to take the risk Stiles and Scott separated to sit back down. The rest of the class period went by agonizingly slow for everyone. Nobody was really paying attention at this point and to be fair, Harris didn't really care.

After class let out the two boys agreed to talk more about what happened at lunch since they both had to get to different classes. Time seemed to slow to a crawl, every second felling like an hour to the medium. Stiles figured that this was the world's way of trying to get back at him for all the trouble he caused since dragging his best friend out in the middle of the night to search for a body.

Finally the lunch bell rang, allowing the students to all leave for the cafeteria. Stiles quickly packed up and ran out of his history class, ignoring the teacher's shout for him to not run in the hallways.

When the teen sat down at his usual seat Scott was already there waiting for him with a tray of food. Stiles immediately jumped back into their earlier conversation, as if they never stopped talking. "But dreams aren't memories."

Scott shook his head, "Then it wasn't a dream. Something happened last night, and I can't remember what."

Stiles leaned forwards, "What makes you so sure that Derek even has all the answers?"

"Because during the full moon he wasn't changed. He was in total control while I was running around in the middle of the night attacking some totally innocent guy."

Stiles frowned at the werewolf. Did Scott really believe he killed this guy? "You don't know that."

"I don't not know it," Scott retorted. With that he threw down his fork, "I can't go out with Allison. I have to cancel."

Stiles jumped in his seat. "No, you're not cancelling, okay?" Stiles nearly shouted at his friend. "You can't just cancel your entire life. We'll figure it out."

"Figure what out?" came a feminine voice. Both Stiles and Scott watched in fascinated horror as Lydia Martin placed her lunch tray down and sat in the seat to the left of Scott.

Scott began to fumble for a reasonable answer, "Just, uh, homework."

"Yeah," Stiles agreed. Leaning closer to Scott he whispered, "Why is she sitting with us?" Don't get Stiles wrong, he was defiantly happy that Lydia was sitting with them. But Lydia never paid attention to them before, much less sat with them. So Stiles was reasonably confused by this turn of events.

However, before Scott could answer him Allison placed her tray down and took the seat on the right of Scott. Stiles and Scott all watched in wonder and surprise as three other players on their lacrosse team took seats at the table around them. The only one that Stiles really knew was Danny who took a seat on the right of Stiles. Stiles smiled at the tan goalie, giving a small wave which were both ignored.

"Thanks," Allison said sweetly to Scott.

Just when the two boys thought things couldn't get any weirder Jackson walked over and stood over one of the players who was sitting next to Lydia. "Get up," the lacrosse captain demanded.

The guy groaned, "How come you never ask Danny to get up?"

Danny smiled at him, "Because I don't stare at his girlfriend's coin slot." With that the guy stood up and moved to the other side of Stiles. Jackson dropped his tray onto the table and plopped down into his seat. Danny must have noticed the confused tension in the air and started a conversation to break it. "So I hear they're saying it's some type of animal attack. Probably a cougar."

"I heard mountain lion," Jackson countered.

"A cougar is a mountain lion," Lydia answered. Everyone looked over towards her as she absently played with her food. Seeing the looks she was getting she cocked her head and pitched her voice, "Isn't it?"

Stiles frowned, knowing that she was purposely acting clueless. The medium could never figure out why women would do that. Stiles pulled out his phone, navigating his internet page as he searched for any new information on the attack.

"Who cares? The guy's probably some homeless tweaker who's gonna die anyway," Jackson absently answered. Stiles knew Jackson could be an inconsiderate ass, but damn.

"Actually," Stiles said as he spotted a video that was recently posted from a new channel and pressed play. "I just found out who it is. Check it out."

The whole table leaned in closer as they tried to watch the news report from the phone's screen. A woman spoke as snippets of video showed the crime scene and man as he was pushed on the stretcher. "The Sheriff's department won't speculate on details of the incident but confirmed the victim, Garrison Meyers, did survive the attack. Meyers was taken to a local hospital where he remains in critical condition. With that the video ended, allowing the teens to sit back in their seats and contemplate the new information they had been given.

In the silence Scott spoke up, "I know this guy."

"You do?" Allison asked in surprise.

"Yeah," Scott answered, looking over towards his girlfriend. "When I used to take the bus back when I lived with my dad. He was the driver.

On that somber note Lydia took initiative and broke the tension. "Can we talk about something slightly more fun, please? Like, oh, where are we going tomorrow night? You said you and Scott were hanging out tomorrow night, right?"

Allison looked like a deer caught in the headlights as she scrambled for an answer. "Um, we were thinking of what we were gonna do."

"Well, I am not sitting home again watching lacrosse videos, so if the four of us are hanging out, we are doing something fun," Lydia said, either ignoring or not picking up on the signals that Allison was trying to send about wanting to go alone.

Scoot looked between the two girls before settling his gaze on Allison, "Hanging out? Like, the four of us? Do you wanna hang out, like us and them?"

Allison smiled shyly, trying to keep the peace as she said, "Yeah, I guess. Sounds fun."

Jackson, ever the tool, cut in with a biting remark of, "You know what else sounds fun?" Here Jackson picked up his fork and said, "Stabbing myself in the face with this fork."

Stiles smirked silently to himself. Yeah, that did sound like a lot of fun.

Lydia just ignored her boyfriend as she continued on, "How 'bout bowling? You love to bowl."

"Yeah, with actual competition," Jackson nearly spat out.

Allison frowned slightly at this. "How do you know we're not actual competition?" Allison questioned. She turned to look at Scott with her big doe eyes and asked sweetly, "You can bowl, right?"

Scott looked between the two girls, the smirk on Jacksons face, Stiles' now wide eyes, and then back to Allison. "Sort of."

Jackson scowled, "Is it sort of, or yes?"

Scott frowned back before leaning forward, a smirk on his face as he answered, "Yes. In fact, I'm a great bowler."

Stiles almost wanted to bang his head on the lunch table at this point but was just able to stop himself. The rest of lunch was filled with idle shatter about weekend plans and even about the first dance of the school year which wasn't until the end of the semester. The warning bell rang, forcing the group to depart and head for their next class of the day.

By the time school let out Stiles felt like he was about to explode. Virtually running through the halls Stiles was able to meet up with Scott before he left. The werewolf closed his locker shut and began to head for the front school entrance, Stiles walking beside him.

"You're a terrible bowler," Stiles pointed out to his friend.

"I know! I'm such an idiot," Scott moaned out.

"God, it was like watching a car wreck. I mean, first it turned into the whole group date thing. And then out of nowhere comes that phrase."

"Hang out," Scott said, almost like a question.

"You don't hang out with hot girls, okay?" Stiles explained. "It's like death. Once it's hanging out, you might as well be her gay best friend. You and Danny can start hanging out."

"How is this happening? I either killed a guy or I didn't."

"I don't think Danny likes me very much."

Scott ignored Stiles as he spoke again, "I ask Allison on a date, and now we're hanging out."

Stiles continued, hoping his friend might actually listen this time. "Am I not attractive to gay guys?"

"I make first line, and the team captain wants to destroy me, and now," Scott continued, still ignoring Stiles' plight as he looked at his watch. "—now I'm gonna be late for work." With that the werewolf rushed off without looking back.

"Wait," Stiles shouted out after his friend. "Scott, you didn't - am I attractive to gay guy - you didn't answer my question." But Stiles was still ignored as his best friend tried to get to work on time. Stiles signed as he walked to his truck. He wanted to get home and just ignore the world for the rest of the weekend.

But it wasn't meant to be as about four hours after Stiles arrived at his house he received a text from Scott telling him that he needed to go back to the scene of the crime to find out what happened the night before. Stiles was really regretting ever taking his friend with him on his search for the body in the woods. Of course, if he hadn't taken Scott then Stiles might have been the one bitten and he didn't quite know how he felt about that.

Stiles grabbed his flashlight from inside his nightstand and left for his jeep. Hopefully his father wouldn't get back from work until late so he wouldn't notice Stiles' absence. With only minor trouble Stiles was about to pick up Scott from his house and get back to the school's bus garage.

The two boys exited the jeep and looked at the high chain-linked fence. Scott walked forward but stopped once he noticed Stiles doing the same. "Hey, no, just me. Someone needs to keep watch."

Stiles frowned, "How come I'm always the guy keeping watch?"

"Because there's only two of us," Scott pointed out.

Stiles nodded skeptically, "Okay, why's it starting to feel like you're Batman and I'm Robin? I don't want to be Robin all the time."

Scott shook his head at the medium. "Nobody's Batman and Robin any of the time." With that Scott turned around and started climbing the fence.

Stiles walked towards the fence as Scott neared the top. "Not even some of the time?"

Scott looked down at his friends and pointed to the ground, "Just stay here."

Stiles scoffed, "Oh, my God! Fine."

The medium watched at Scott jumped down from the fence onto the other side and started to almost prowl to the bus with the ripped off door and the blood splatters. Grumbling to himself Stiles looked around the area, making sure that nobody was watching them.

Just when Stiles thought that they would finish this with no problems he spotted some police lights from down the road. Stiles looked back towards the busses and spotted the werewolf exiting the bus. "Come on - come on-"

Scott noticed the lights as well and quickly ran back to the fence. Stiles quickly scrambled into the driver's seat of his car and watched as Scott nearly jumped over the fence in one leap. Stiles started jumping up and down in his seat as his friend ran to the passenger side and threw himself into the jeep.

"Go! Go! Go! Go!" Scott shouted.

Stiles slammed on the gas as he hurried to leave the area. The two teens watched as the lights in the rearview mirror began to vanish. Once they knew they were safe Stiles let off the gas pedal and started to drive normal again. "Did it work? Did you remember?"

"Yeah, I was there last night. And the blood - a lot of it was mine."

"So you did attack him?" Stiles asked, knowing that the whole reason Scott wanted to know what happened was to make sure that he didn't hurt anyone.

Scott shook his head as he answered, "No. I saw glowing eyes in the bus, but they weren't mine. It was Derek."

Stiles eyebrows shot up in surprise. He really didn't think Derek was the one that had attacked the driver, but then again, he didn't know Derek all that well. "What about the driver?"

"I think I was actually trying to protect him."

Stiles frowned as he thought about what Scott had told him. "Wait, why would Derek help you remember that he attacked the driver?"

"That's what I don't get."

Stiles knew something wasn't right. "It's got to be a pack thing," Stiles tried to reason.

"What do you mean?" Scott asked in confusion.

"Like an initiation. You do the kill together."

"Because ripping someone's throat out is a real bonding experience?" Scott asked sarcastically.

"Yeah, but you didn't do it, which means you're not a killer. And it also means that –"

"I can go out with Allison," Scott said, cutting Stiles off.

Stiles shook his head at this. Good to know Scott had his priorities straight. "I was gonna say it means you won't kill me."

"Oh, yeah. That too," Scott said, slightly embarrassed.

Stiles was beginning to rethink his choice in friends when he pulled up to Scott's house and dropped off the werewolf. Scott exited the jeep with a short wave and a, "have a nice weekend," before shutting the door.

Stiles now knew that he had the whole weekend to himself and he was going to enjoy it while it lasted. Arriving home Stiles threw off his shoes and walked directly to his bed. He flopped down onto the mattress, not caring the he was still fully clothed. Closing his eyes Stiles let his mind go as he let sleep claim him for the first time in nearly two weeks.

The next morning Stiles woke to the sun beating into his eyes. Scrunching up his face Stiles let out a groan and rolled over. Unfortunately that didn't help so with a sign Stiles sat up and looked at his alarm clock. The numbers 1:18 flashed at him, letting Stiles know that he had slept almost half his Saturday away.

The teen stretched, letting out all of the kinks in his back as he walked to the bathroom. Within twenty minutes Stiles had washed, brushed his teeth, and emptied his bladder. Wrapping a towel around his hips he left the now foggy bathroom and headed back to his room to get changed.

Stiles riffled through his drawers before picking a black Captain America T-shirt and plaid red flannel shirt with a pair of blue jeans for the day. After getting dressed the medium walked downstairs to make some breakfast, though it was actually time for lunch. Entering the kitchen Stiles was greeted with the sight on his father, wearing a plain grey T-shirt and a pair of blue jeans. Stiles watched as his father moved about the kitchen, making himself a plate with a turkey and cheese sandwich and some vegetable chips that Stiles made him eat in place of potato chips.

"Morning dad," Stiles called out, almost startling his father as he smeared the bread slices with mayonnaise and mustard.

"It's after noon Stiles," John answered, smiling at his son.

"Yeah, well," Stiles drawled, walking over to the fridge and grabbing out the egg carton, "I just woke up, therefore it is still morning."

John nodded, as if what Stiles had said made sense. "I see, then good morning son."

"There, was that so hard," Stiles teased as he went about making an omelet for himself.

"Incredibly," John answered.

The two men worked around each other as they both tried to finish making their meals. John finished making his sandwich first and walked over to the dining room table, absently waiting for his son to finish up making his omelet before eating himself.

Both Stilinski's ate their meals together, talking about small things like how their week had been and what their plans for the weekend were. The whole while John was subtly trying to sneak pieces of Stiles' omelet when he wasn't paying attention. In return Stiles grabbed up his dad's sandwich and took a bite.

When the two had empty plates in front of them Stiles leapt to his feet and grabbed both of their dirty dishes and placed them into the kitchen sink. Turning around he watched his dad as he stood in the middle of the kitchen doorway.

"Alright son, I have the whole weekend off. What do you want to do first?" John asked.

Stiles grinned at this. Finally, some time with his dad that wasn't filled with half-truths or lies. Stiles thought about what was on today before answering, "I think there's a Back to the Future Marathon on today. That sounds like fun."

"Yeah, I haven't seen those movies in a while," John said, seeming to really think about it for a minute. "Alright, but only if we make the good popcorn."

Stiles pursed his lips for a second in thought before coming to the decision, "fine, but no extra butter or salt."

John smiled in triumph, "Deal. You make the popcorn, I'll get the tv started."

"Okay," Stiles agreed as he set about making a huge bowl of popcorn. Stiles pulled out two bags of theater butter flavored popcorn and placed one into the microwave. He absently listened to his father moving around the living room as he searched for a big bowl from the cupboards.

By the time both bags of popcorn were done in the microwave and dumped into the bowl Stiles could hear the sounds of Doc talking to Marty from the other room. Stiles grinned to himself as he grabbed up the bowl and stumbled his way into the living room.

John was already seated on the couch, enjoying the movie when Stiles lowered himself next to him, bowl of popcorn now sitting on his lap. John reached over to grab the bowl but Stiles was having none on it. "No, if I let you hold it you'll just eat all of it. At least this way I can regulate you."

"Regulate me?" John asked.

"Yes, you're only eating half of this. No more than that. I'll know if you do."

"I don't doubt that," John grumbled as he grabbed a handful of delicious popcorn.

Stiles grinned in victory as he started watching the movie. He loved moments like these, just sitting and hanging out with his dad. It didn't happen often so when moments like these occurred Stiles like to treasure them.

By the third movie the bowl of popcorn had been empty long enough that the two men had gotten hungry again and decided to make dinner. Stiles figured he make something healthy to make up for the popcorn and something fast so they could get back to the movie.

With that in mind Stiles made them a bowl of angel-haired alfredo noodles with some cubed chicken pieces in it. They bought their bowls out to the living room and eat their dinner on the couch so they didn't miss anything else.

This was how the night progressed for the day. The two men bonding over foods and the adventures of Marty McFly. It wasn't until a little after 11 o'clock rolled around that their time together was interrupted by a call.

John looked at his phone and frowned before giving his son an apologetic look. John stood up and left the room, answering the phone on the way, "Sheriff Stilinsky."

Stiles knew that whenever his dad answered the phone like that it was because someone down at the office was calling him. Turning down the television volume Stiles tried to listen in on what was going on.

"When did this happen?"

"Where is he now?"

"Alright, I'll be there as soon as I can." With that John reenter the living room and stood in the archway, shifting from foot to foot looking guilty.

"What's the matter dad?"

"Sorry son," John said, truly looking remorseful. "I actually have to go to the hospital right now. The man that was attacked two nights ago just succumbed to his wounds. I'm sorry but I'm gonna have to cut this Marathon short."

"Oh," Stiles sighed. "Alright. I guess I'll just see you tomorrow then?"

"Don't forget to do your school work," John answered. He stepped over to Stiles and gave him a hug before heading upstairs to change into his work uniform. Stiles knew that the lack of confirmation from his dad meant that he either wasn't going to be home tomorrow or didn't think he would be able to.

Stiles' shoulders drooped as he turned off the television. Though he knew that he was just going to drive over to Scott's anyways to tell him the news he didn't want his dad knowing that. Making to look like Stiles was about to do his homework Stiles grabbed his backpack and pulled out his math homework.

By the time Stiles' dad made it back downstairs in his uniform Stiles had already set up the book and papers, giving off the perfect illusion of being productive.

"Alright son, don't stay up too late. I'll see you later," John called before leaving the house.

"Bye!" Stiles shouted out from his spot on the floor.

The silence in the house was immediately noticeable to Stiles. Stiles listened to the sound of his dad leaving in the police crusier before snapping into action and fumbling to leave the house.

The drive over to Scott's was quick and took only ten minutes before Stiles was parked outside in the driveway. Figuring that Melissa was asleep and not wanting to wake her Stiles walked to the side of the house and began to climb. This time was a lot easier that the night he found out about the body. Once Stiles reached the windowsill he didn't even pause before he crawled through and fell onto the bed.

His entrance was accompanied by a scream. Stiles let out a yell as he looked up, spotting Melissa standing over him with a bat in hand posed to hit him. Stiles lifted his arms as if to ward off the attack. When they both were able to stop yelling and screaming Melissa dropped her arms down, bringing the bat with her. "Seriously. Stiles, what the hell are you doing here?"

Stiles stuttered for a second before gaining his breath and nearly yelling back, "What am I doing? God, do either of you even play baseball?"

"What?" Just then Scott ran over looking worried before noticing that it was just Stiles. Melissa looked to her son before asking, "Can you please tell your friend to use the front door?"

"But we lock the front door. He wouldn't be able to get in," Scott pointed out.

"Yeah, exactly. And, by the way, do either of you care that there's a police - enforced curfew?" Melissa asked, exasperated with the two of them.

"No," Scott and Stiles both answered at the same time.

Melissa placed the bat down and lifted her hands in surrender. "No. All right then. Well, you know what? That's about enough parenting for me for one night, so good night." With that Scott's mother left the two boys to themselves.

Scott watched his mother fully leave before turning to his friends and asking, "What?"

"My dad left for the hospital 15 minutes ago," Stiles answered solemnly. "It's the bus driver. They said he succumbed to his wounds."

Scott looked confused as he asked, "Succumbed?"

"Scott, he's dead."


End file.
